Issue #35 April 2017

The IPBA Secretariat
Roppongi Hills North Tower 7F
6-2-31 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032
Tel +81 3-5786-6796 FAX +82-3-5786-6778
E-mail: ipba@ipba.org

Topics: IPBA Membership News • IPBA Committee News • Auckland 2017 Report •
IPBA Local and Regional Events • IPBA-Supported Events

IPBA Membership News

• The IPBA Membership Committee is seeking young lawyers! It plans to form an Ad Hoc committee to help bring in lawyers under a certain age---the jury is still out on what the age cut-off should be. 35? 40? Currently, lawyers 35 years old and under can join IPBA in the Young Lawyer membership category. Please contact the Membership Committee Chair and Vice-Chair if you are interested in taking part in the committee leadership.
• We now have a new jurisdiction: Vietnam. The Jurisdictional Council Member representing Vietnam is Net Le of LNT & Partners, Ho Chi Minh City. He is already planning an event to be held in Da Nang, coinciding with APEC activities, this fall. See the IPBA Events listing below for details.
• The Secretariat will begin preparing the IPBA printed Membership Directory in May. If there are any changes to your contact information, please update your profile via the IPBA web site, or let the Secretariat know by Friday, May 19th.
• The audited financial statements for 2016 were approved by the members at the AGM on Sunday, April 9th. The complete statement can be found on the IPBA web site, Member Only section, in the Library. The Minutes of the AGM will also be uploaded to the Library when they are finalized by the Officers.

IPBA Committee News

Leaders of the IPBA committees held productive planning sessions for the coming year during the Auckland Annual Conference, and several committees have new leadership! You can find the names and positions of all current committee leaders on the IPBA web site Committee pages.  Please get in touch with any committee of interest as soon as possible if you would like to help plan events during the year or panel sessions for next year’s annual meeting. Committees are already well into the planning process and will need to finalize ideas soon. Your thoughts and help are always welcome!

Committees are always on the lookout for new leadership in the position of Vice-Chair. After experience as Vice-Chair, it is then possible to be considered for Chair. The nominations process for terms beginning from immediately after Manila will start in May 2017, so contact the Chair of the committee if you are interested in this opportunity.

The committee sessions at the Auckland Conference were a success! At left was the very well-attended session on Artificial Intelligence organized by the Corporate Counsel, Employment & Immigration Law, and Technology, Media & Telecommunications Committees; at right is part of the popular roundtable discussion at a session organized by the Competition Law Committee.

27th IPBA Annual Meeting and Conference in Auckland:  Connectivity & Convergence April 6-9, 2017

Over 700 delegates Converged on the SkyCity Convention Centre in Auckland, and Connected over the course of four days at the social events and committee sessions.

We have had many positive reports on the committee sessions. In case you could not join us at the conference, there will be a recap published in the June issue of the IPBA Journal.

Photos of the conference are being uploaded to an excluvie site, and can be found HERE. There are more photos to come, so keep checking this from time to time. Below is just a sampling of the photos.

	On April 4th, delegates were welcomed to the conference at the Women Business Lawyers Reception; New Member and IPBA Scholar Reception; and Welcome Reception. Many different kinds of wine from New Zealand were imbibed, and local and international treats were ingested, throughout all receptions.
At the Opening Ceremony, President Dhinesh Bhaskaran and President-Elect Denis McNamara receive a traditional Maori welcome, after which a "haka" was performed as a symbol of welcome and best wishes for a successful IPBA Conference. Unfortunately, we did not get to enjoy seeing Dhinesh and Denis in fancy loincloths. They enjoyed, however, the traditional Maori "hongi", or greeting by touching noses and foreheads, with one of the Maori leaders.
	Although the topic of Sports Law had been planned for the Plenary Session, it was changed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement based to the sudden changes that occurred from recent political decisions made by certain leaders around the globe. A panel of experts was quickly put together by moderator Corey Norton, Chair of the International Trade Committee.
The IPBA Scholars this year hailed from seven different jurisdictions. We extend our hearty thanks to the generous members who provide funds for the Scholarship Program: Japan members through the Japan Fund; the Vancouver 2014 Conference Host Committee which earmarked a portion of the conference surplus for the Scholarship Program; and a generous donation by J.K. Lin, son of Past President M.K. Lin, who provided an initial donation to the Program in the early 1990s.

IPBA Local and Regional Events 2017

Click on the image at right to download the flyer of all IPBA events through March 2018.

Click on the image at right to see details of our event on June 12th in Düsseldorf, Germany.

IPBA-Supported Events 2017

Check the IPBA web site for details! IPBA members can enjoy discounted registration rates at most events.